Mind the gap? A critical analysis of the recognition and enforcement of cross-border consumer ODR outcomes in the EU

The EU ODR platform was created with the objective of offering better access to justice for the consumer, especially for cross-border disputes. The recognition and enforcement of cross-border ODR outcomes in the EU is however a complex procedure, and not always possible under the current EU legal framework. This article therefore questions whether a digitalised ESCP procedure is a better alternative to the enforcement of consumer redress for cross-border electronic-based small claims procedures

Towards a fairer trading system for micro and small businesses post-Brexit? Comparative aspects with other common law systems

This chapter explores the position that the English legislature and courts would have on the issue of imposing unfair contract terms on Micro and Small Businesses (MSBs) in the post-Brexit era. The chapter looks into the extent that current applicable law and developments in English contract law offer protections for contractual trading with MSBs. In the presence of current legal gaps with regards to such protections that often lead to abuse by larger corporations there might be some solutions available in the current law to deal with the invalidation of unfair contract terms in Business to Business (B2B) transactions involving MSBs, however these still do not deal with the issue in its entirety and are also met with limitations. Given the uncertain developments on this matter after Brexit the chapter considers a brief comparative analysis with other common law jurisdictions on the issue as they might influence possible future reforms. The comparative analysis consists of examining the protections available on imposing unfair contract terms on small businesses in the Australian and the US legal systems. This chapter thereby analyses what possible solutions can be raised in dealing with this pressing issue after Brexit by considering these comparative results

The invocation of the precautionary principle within the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism: not seizing the occasion

The principal purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the precautionary principle can be in-cluded in the investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) deliberative process by providing a legal solution that would permit the invocation and implementation of this concept within the ISDS op-erational framework. The precautionary principle has been widely applied in the environmental management field, yet its role within the ISDS framework has remained relatively underuti-lised. To analyse this issue, this paper first explores the operational justification of the precaution-ary principle and how decision-makers should endorse it in order to fully recognise and address environmental concerns on a legal level. Next, the article proceeds to examine recent ISDS cases in which the precautionary principle was invoked and compares various risk assessment techniques to illustrate how it may be incorporated into the deliberative process and harmonised with other standards. The paper suggests that the forward-looking nature of the precautionary principle has paramount importance in disputes involving oil and gas, particularly in cases where oil and gas ac-tivities are believed to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that could worsen global warming. This paper advances the argument that a wider application of the principle could better equip ISDS tribunals to address the limitations of scientific knowledge, especially under circumstances where significant or irreversible environmental damage may occur

Recasting West Tankers in the deep water: how Gazprom and recast Brussels I reconcile Brussels I with international arbitration

The central argument which is advanced by this article is that, whilst there is no outright obligation in Brussels I which prevents parallel proceedings between a court action and arbitration between the same parties and concerning a similar cause of action, the revisions in the recast Brussels I, along with the Gazprom interpretation of key non-revised parts of Brussels I, do certainly provide improved support for international commercial arbitration. These do so by giving more scope to national courts to restrict Parallel Proceedings; through anti-suit injunctions issued by an arbitral tribunal; through finding parties taking parallel court action to be in breach of the arbitration agreement; and by giving primacy to the arbitral award where it is irreconcilable with a parallel court judgment. The authors particularly demonstrate that this is made possible because of a changed (diminished) role which is given to the principle of effectiveness of EU law (effet utile) post Gazprom and Brussels I

E-learning adoption in higher education in Jordan: vision, reality and change

This paper discusses the implementation of an e-learning program at a Jordanian University (Al-Ahliyya Amman University). The program originally aimed to establish a virtual university which offers totally online courses but due to a number of reasons there had to be some changes in the implementation process. The paper discusses such changes and challenges faced by AAU in implementing its e-learning program from an IS project management point of view. Findings suggest that implementing such projects needs careful consideration of a variety of issues to ensure that the objectives are achieved. The case provides rich insights to other educational institutions wishing to implement such projects

Physical Activity and Obesity Indicators: National Cross Sectional Study on Lebanese Adults

Association between higher levels of physical activity and lower rates of obesity has been shown. The aim is to assess the relation between the prevalence of physical activity and the Physical Activity Index (PAI) of 300 Lebanese healthy adults, with age, gender, occupation, body mass indices and waist circumferences (WC). The cutoff points of WC for both genders were determined using the values of Body Mass Index (BMI). A cross-sectional study using self-reported valid questionnaire was conducted randomly on 150 men and 150 women, between 18 and 74 years, from Beirut region. Association between variables was performed using chi2, T-Test and ANOVA. Linear regression determined the WC cutoffs based on BMI. 22% of the population was obese with WC mean level of 92.47±14.4cm (87.71±14.4 cm for women and 97.24±12.96 cm for men). The prevalence of physical activity was 34% in overall population (27% in women and 40% in men).There was no significant association between BMI values and PAI (p< 0.085 for men and p< 0.300 for women). However there was an inverse association between WC values and PAI in both genders (p<0.043 in men and p< 0.036 in women). Linear regression showed WC cut-off point in Lebanese women with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 and ≥30 kg/m2 of 86 cm and 100 cm respectively, whereas for men it was 92.12 cm and 105 cm respectively. The prevalence of physical activity in Beirut is low with differences among genders. The highest physical activity index is associated with the decreased values of waist circumference

Deep Learning Methods for Device Identification Using Symbols Trace Plot

Devices authentication is one crucial aspect of any communication system. Recently, the physical layer approach radio frequency (RF) fingerprinting has gained increased interest as it provides an extra layer of security without requiring additional components. In this work, we propose an RF fingerprinting based transmitter authentication approach density trace plot (DTP) to exploit device-identifiable fingerprints. By considering IQ imbalance solely as the feature source, DTP can efficiently extract device-identifiable fingerprints from symbol transition trajectories and density center drifts. In total, three DTP modalities based on constellation, eye and phase traces are respectively generated and tested against three deep learning classifiers: the 2D-CNN, 2D-CNN+biLSTM and 3D-CNN. The feasibility of these DTP and classifier pairs is verified using a practical dataset collected from the ADALM-PLUTO software-defined radios (SDRs)